144 NATURAL HISTORY. 



ZOOLOGICAL NOTES. 



NOTE ON AN OLIGODON (SUBPUNCTATUS ?) FOUND AT 

 DAHANU, NORTH KONKAN, MARCH 1886. 



By Mr. G. Vidal, C.S. 



Description.— Length 11|. Scales 17. Upper labials 8 (4, 5, 6 entering orbit) 



Minute black spots on the dorsal line about every third scale not white 

 edged. 



A lateral streak of minute black speck9. 



Scuta black spotted on each side. 



This specimen agrees with the description of Subpunctatus (D et B), except 

 that the scales are in 17 rows and not 15, and that the dorsal spots are plain 

 and not white edged. 



In the number of rows of scales it agrees with Spini punctatus (Tan), but the 

 latter, according to the description, has 9 upper labials and no ventral dots. 



G. VIDAL. 



Pteropus Edwardsii. — One of the 21st of May, one of the hottest days, I 



suppose, that man has endured on this tide of India, I was at Belapur near 



Panvel, and at about 1 o'clock in the day I came upon several trees covered with 



Flying Foxes, all wideawake and fanning themselves hard with one wing. 



Some used the right wing and some the left, but not one was at rest. More 



than a hundred wings waving at once produced a very striking effect, and I 



cannot think that the habit, if at all general, can have altogether escaped notice. 



I am curious to know if anyone else has observed it. 



E. H. AITKEN. 



White-ants. — The following seems worth noting. I have heard of similar 

 cases, but this is the first that has come under my own observation. One of the 

 windows of the travellers' bungalow at Panvel had been attacked by white-ants, 

 when it was opened and left open for two days, thus cutting them off from their 

 base of operations. Instead of working along to the side ef the window and 

 going down by the frame, they had made an earthen pipe, three inches long, to 

 connect the window with the sill below. The pipe was perfectly straight, like 

 a mill chimney, and very thin, just wide enough to allow passage for one ant at 

 a time ; so they must have had some arrangement for obtaining "line clear" 

 before entering at either end. White-ants being blind, it is an interesting 

 question by what sense they assured themselves when they commenced their 

 pipe that they were not working out into space. 



E. H. AITKEN. 



Editor's Note. — A chest of drawers was removed about 4 or 5 inches away from 

 a wall. The feet of the chest were inserted in saucers of turmeric powder, 

 and the contents were considered safe. But on opening one drawer after a time, 

 it was found full of white-ants. On looking behind the chest, there was dis- 

 covered a track leading up the wall to a level with the drawer, and then a bridge 

 consisting of a single pipe was thrown across and the drawer entered. 



B. A. S. 



